Who killed the Ming Dynasty?

The river breeze, carrying the smell of tung oil, wafted into the cabin.

Lieutenant General Wang Jing walked in carrying a lacquered tray, and the freshly brewed Lu'an Melon Seed tea rippled in the teacup.

Zhu Cilang took the teacup, his tone solemn:

"Speak! Tell me the details!"

Zhang Youyu held up one finger and said in a deep voice:

"Firstly, the constraints of ancestral rules."

"Since the Hongwu Emperor established the Yellow Register of Taxes and Labor (a register for land and population), although the Ministry of Revenue was in charge of all the money and grain in the country, the prefectures and counties had their own established rules for retaining these funds."

"After the Xuande Emperor, the 'Retention and Withholding Law' was implemented, allowing local governments to retain 30% of tax revenue to pay for the salaries of princes and local military supplies."

"However, since the Chenghua era, the proportion of local residents has expanded to 50%."

He suddenly turned to the side and pointed to the apricot-yellow flag of the "Ministry of Revenue Tax Bureau" on the dock.

"The Huguang Provincial Administration Commission has actually established ten miscellaneous taxes, including the 'River Works Tax' and the 'Bandit Suppression and People's Peace Tax,' which are beyond the reach of the Ministry of Revenue."

He pressed down on the tax stamps that had been blown over by the river wind with his left hand and continued:

"Secondly, eunuchs wield power."

He spoke faster, as if reciting a familiar story.

"During the Zhengtong era, Wang Zhen held the power of approving imperial edicts in the Directorate of Ceremonial, arbitrarily altered the tax items of the Ministry of Revenue, and condoned local governments to levy miscellaneous taxes to fill the imperial treasury."

"During the Chenghua era, Wang Zhi was in charge of the Western Depot. Merchant ships passing through the customs had to pay 'Western Depot Auxiliary Silver,' and the tax money went directly to the Imperial Horse Administration."

"At the end of the Wanli era, Wei Zhongxian further embezzled the 'Liaodong military pay' from the nine border regions. In the sixth year of the Tianqi reign alone, the military pay for the Shanhaiguan Pass had to be obtained by bribing the tax supervisor."

In the misty river, one could vaguely see the emaciated porters carrying grain.

Zhang Youyu's voice suddenly became hoarse:

"The third is the tragedy of the silver law."

"After the 'Single Whip Law' was implemented and silver was levied, prefectures and counties took the opportunity to 'compensate with silver and double the amount.'"

"For example, in the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, each shi (a unit of dry measure) of autumn grain in Wuchang Prefecture was worth two taels of silver, while the market price at the time was only eight qian (a unit of currency). Even selling one's children was not enough to pay for it."

"Furthermore, there are the costs of melting and casting silver ingots, transportation fees, etc., amounting to three times the regular tax. How could the Ministry of Revenue's accounts possibly record such 'invisible tax chains'?"

Zhu Cilang remained silent, the four characters "折色倍征" (zhé sè bèi zhēng) causing him to fall into deep thought.

The government stipulated that each shi (a unit of dry measure) of autumn grain should be converted into two taels of silver for tax collection. However, the actual market price of grain was only eight qian (another unit of dry measure) of silver per shi.

This meant that if ordinary people wanted to pay taxes as required by the government, they would have to pay in silver that was far more valuable than the actual value of the grain.

The common people originally had a shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain, which could only be sold for eight qian (a unit of weight) of silver at the market price, but the government demanded that they pay two liang (another unit of weight) of silver.

In order to scrape together these two taels of silver, people had no choice but to sell more grain or other valuables, and there was even the tragic situation of having to sell their children.

This was precisely due to the drawbacks of the tax system that forced the use of silver instead of grain after Zhang Juzheng implemented the "Single Whip Law" reform, resulting in the silver-grain price conversion mechanism being out of touch with market realities.

Furthermore, corruption among officials leads to layers of additional burdens, ultimately creating a vicious cycle of systemic exploitation.

In a daze, it seemed as if suppressed sobs could be heard coming from the dock again.

Zhu Cilang suddenly slammed his hand on the table, glaring angrily at Zhang Youyu:

"So what did your Ministry of Revenue do?"

"So, you're going to place the abacus in front of the late emperor's tomb, letting your ancestors manipulate the beads for you?"

Zhang Youyu clasped his hands and bowed, making his back appear even more hunched.

"Every day, I face the accumulated yellow registers in the Nanjing Imperial Archives, as if I were holding a skeleton."

"The flesh and blood that the founding emperor ordered have long been eaten away, leaving only this brittle cardboard shell to serve as a facade."

Zhu Cilang gripped the edge of the tax stamp and suddenly remembered the mountains of yellow books piled up in the Nanjing Imperial Archives.

Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang painstakingly formulated the Fish Scale Register (a detailed land register) and the Household Registration System.

What was once the foundation upon which the imperial court controlled the land and population and governed the country is now like rotten wood hollowed out by termites.

Officials colluded with powerful landlords to falsify and alter records, conceal land ownership, and evade taxes.

This resulted in a huge discrepancy between the records in the register and the actual situation.

After two hundred years of accumulated problems, the Yellow Registers became nothing more than a pile of waste paper.

The imperial court had become completely confused about how many people and how much fertile land it controlled!

He slammed the tax stamps onto the table:

"Even a high-ranking official like you, who controls the nation's treasury, can't untangle this knot?"

"Does this mean I should turn the Ministry of Revenue, left behind by the founding emperor, into a mere archive for clerks to keep accounts for the princes?"

Zhang Youyu suddenly raised his head, a strange light flashing in his eyes:

"The Ministry of Revenue is utterly incompetent!"

"The truth is, this is because a two-hundred-year-old ailment has become incurable—"

"When eunuchs control the imperial treasury, the Ministry of Revenue loses silver; this is a tragedy for financial power."

"When feudal princes seize estates, the Ministry of Revenue loses land; this is the collapse of its very foundation."

"When clerks create blank registers, the Ministry of Revenue loses information; this is a sign of corruption within the system."

"If powerful clans conceal their wealth and manpower, the Ministry of Revenue will lose its personnel, which is tantamount to the exhaustion of its lifeline!"

A seagull flew by, and the wind stirred up by its wings swept the torn tax stamps scattered on the windowsill into the river.

Zhu Cilang gazed at the fragments of tax stamps drifting downstream.

Finally, I could see clearly those jagged white bones floating in the long river of history, each one engraved with the four characters "Great Ming Tax System".

His voice was low and pained:

"This is not your fault, but my mistake!"

"It is my Qianqing Palace's warm chamber that is leaking air, and it is my Fengtian Hall's steps that have cracked."

"This chronic illness should be recorded on the memorial box in the Wuying Hall and engraved between the dragon pillars in the Jinshen Hall."

"It's not that your abacus beads were not set correctly; it's clearly that my jade tablet measured the mountains and rivers of the Ming Dynasty incorrectly."

Zhang Youyu knelt down on the deck with a thud, tears streaming down his face.

"Your Majesty is being too kind to this old minister!"

He suddenly ripped open his shirt and took out a roll of account books wrapped in oilcloth.

"For fifteen years, I secretly recorded fourteen volumes of tax malpractices."

"I dare to ask Your Majesty to bestow upon me the Imperial Sword to sever these three malignant tumors."

"good!"

Zhu Cilang shouted and abruptly pulled open the rosewood cabinet.

A gilded sword was drawn out, its dragon scales on the scabbard dancing against the rising sun:

"Today, I will use the spine of this sword, bestowed by Heaven's mandate, to pry open the chains that have rusted shut by the silver magic for two hundred years—"

"Not a single grain of grain that should be sent to the granary shall be missing! Not a single penny of money that should be left for the people shall be embezzled."

The sword tip points directly at the rising sun at the end of the Yangtze River.

"Let the Emperor's Sword behead these three vermin, recast the iron laws, and recreate the world."

......

Zhu Cilang's "merchant ship" is resupplying.

On a whim, he decided to go ashore and see the world-famous Yellow Crane Tower with his own eyes.

The group disembarked one by one.

Zhu Cilang wore a dark blue silk robe that accentuated his slender figure. He had a small ivory abacus hanging at his waist and a gilded bronze button with bat patterns fastened to his lapel.

He resembled the typical image of a young silk merchant in Nanjing, who wanted to flaunt his wealth while also maintaining proper decorum.

"Master, be careful with the cables."

Lieutenant General Wang Jing reminded him in a gruff voice. His bear-like body was wrapped in a short blue cloth jacket, with an indigo patch specially made on his shoulder.

However, the patch was made with brand-new stitches, making it look like a costume that had been sewn overnight for this job.

Zhang Youyu followed closely behind, stroking his goatee.

Zhang Wu, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, followed at the back. This strong man's hat was pulled down very low, revealing a hideous scar on his neck, and the cold glint of chainmail could be vaguely seen under his coarse cloth clothes.